2011 VGA...Games

[gobbleskat]

So, I haven't watched the VGAs since the FIRST one: That was an abysmal shitshow of missed points, so I never gave the thing my time again. Well, this year they roped me in with the promise of a new Alan Wake game announcement...so they pretty much had me at hello. #bytheballs

The show itself is still deeply flawed in that they would rather give screen time to Felecia Day's Double Dare and some jaggoff agro-blogger than actual award presentation...but that's not what this thread is for. Announcements were hot and heavy, though I SWORE the commercials said a new Bioware game was being announced. That absence hurt, but I'm pretty excited that the Alan Wake property is NOT the rumored download Night Springs but was in fact a full fledged sequel: Alan Wake's American Nightmare. The rebranding of Metal Gear Rising via it's move to Platinum has me suddenly a lot more interested, especially with it's silly, super-actiony trailer. Removing the SOLID from that title was what I wanted from the get-go, so I'm happy for them to go hog-wild with a new style of gameplay in a familiar world.

Fortress struck me as a mishmash of things, but I'm interested in seeing Epic do something different. Missed the ME3 trailer but, well, I certainly don't need to be sold on that. Naughty Dog's Last of Us was intriguing...for a cut-scene trailer. Certainly looking forward to hearing more about that.

Anyone else even, well, watch the damn thing? It's been a slow board week.

[Wood]

It's really weird not getting video game news out here. It's like the Nintendo days when you only got news from magazines. Definitely sounds like Spike missed out on appealing to gamers that's smart enough to enjoy a book. I'm sure they had a "hottest video game character" award, and I'm sure it was completely inane.

[Juese]

I mentioned to Rory already, but apparently the new Bioware game is Command and Conquer Generals 2. RTS. DDS. We weren't watching when it was announced, but I don't know if we would've realized it even if we were.

An improvement on the show from the first one but...yeah. Obvious childish bullshit. Tara Strong (voice actress of many years; Princess Clara, Bubbles. The new Harley Quinn) was bitching on my twitter, as I'm sure many others were. All this talent in the audience that they never or barely gave any attention to. Granted, the category was character of the year, but Mark Hamill was just sitting there being awesome off camera and you'd never know it.

Nickelodeon telethon shenanigans aside, the big announcements are very exciting. American Nightmare, Revengers of Envengening Vengvengers and The Last of Us all gave me boners, and it was nice to get reminders of things like Bioshock.

[pappy]

Sorry, I've never seen a single VGA. I've always been struck by the commercials as this being an awards show put on by people who have only the barest inkling of what's going on. It's like if we asked deaf people to put together the Grammy's.

[Jesus]

Sorry, I've never seen a single VGA. I've always been struck by the commercials as this being an awards show put on by people who have only the barest inkling of what's going on. It's like if we asked deaf people to put together the Grammy's.

Pretty much sums up my reason for not watching. Although I'm more likely to compare it to the MTV Video Music Awards... As if they know anything about music videos.

[Ekkebus]

but I'm pretty excited that the Alan Wake property is NOT the rumored download Night Springs but was in fact a full fledged sequel: Alan Wake's American Nightmare.

I don't know about its status as a sequel but American Nightmare is still an XBLA game.

The Bioware announcement is...disappointing to say the least. Not even a full C&C game but a sequel to one of the spinoffs? Lamer than lame.

SpikeTV puts on the show they want to put on which is the show they THINK gamers want to see. As a gamer I find it to be an embarrassment to our culture. Do most people who watch the show enjoy it? I don't know. I think at this point people just tune in to see the trailers. The awards have always been secondary to the shenanigans and I don't think that's something that's going to change anytime soon.

[gobbleskat]

Didn't catch that it was still XBLA. Well let's put it this way, I'm glad it's a continuation of the Alan Wake story and not just an 'Alan Wake related title'.

[Wood]

So, AFN showed a replay of the 2011 VGA's. If you asked me who won what, I couldn't tell you, cause I literally didn't care. Mo-capped characters expressing their appreciation for being nominating was cringe inducing. Capt fucking Price asking the audience to hire vets seemed pretty damn condescending. The trailers looked pretty good though. I was laughing, Hysterically, surrounded by my co-workers, at the Metal Gear Rising trailer. Especially at "Revenge, Vengeance, REVENGENCE!" I really want this game now. Felicia Day did some stupid stunts, but more than made up for it for presenting...something...in a sleek red dress. To think someone bitched that she didn't have her nails done. Who notices that?

[Jesus]

To think someone bitched that she didn't have her nails done. Who notices that?

I'll take "Catty Bitches" for five hundred, Alex.

[King wiL]

The whole thing's kinda a moot point to me anyway, so i choose to ignore it. Mind you, i ignore the BAVGA's too. Or whatever they call them. I make my own mind up on what i liked in the year. Also i care about you guys', Giant Bomb's, Gamespot's, Screwattack's and Dtoid's choices. Basically the podcasts i listen to and my friends and the obvious crossovers in there :p

[Ekkebus]

Video games are the only medium right now that doesn't have a single institution that people can look at as truely having the final or at least the biggest say into what the best games of a given year were. The best part of this season for me is finding out about games or finding out things about games that I didn't know before. Like when Minerva's Den vs Lair of the Shadow Broker spawned an hour long debate on the Giant Bombcast last year. Giant Bomb has become possibly my favorite end-of-the-year awards site, since I like that we actually get to listen them go through their deliberations and see how they came to their conclusions. I like going through 1up as well and Gamespot is good on the years they actually do write ups instead of videos that I don't want to watch. Our show is pretty good too I think.

[King wiL]

I like that there is no institution having the final say, i think awards are nice for the recipitents but at the end of the day it's all based on the opinion of one person or a vote of a collective group. That's why i enjoy hearing the individuals i like's opinions, hence the love for the podcasts. I do love hearing Giant Bomb debate for hours on their deliberations. I didn't hear the part with Minerva's Den/Shadow broker cause i skipped it (Still haven't played Shadow Broker, didn't want spoilers) but i love their several hour long discussions on why they liked certain games/content/characters etc. And of course i always love listening to you guys' Blank of the Year podcast which has always been a great listen, which is why, at least to me, this year's one is gonna be so much more awesome.

[Ekkebus]

I actually didn't listen to that DLC debate either. Having not played Minerva's Den I didn't want to hear about it so I kept skipping forward....and skipping forward...and...ok, they're still talking about it....forward some more and....ok, now we're good? Nope....and yeah, it was close to an hour they debated about that one award I think.